At Garden, Top Big East Seeds Try Out Knicks’ Quarters

When he popped into the training room adjacent to the Knicks’ locker room before Villanova’s quarterfinal game Thursday against Georgetown, Wildcats guard Josh Hart could hardly believe his eyes.

“I looked at all the medicine, and I said, ‘Wow, we don’t got that at ’Nova,’ ” Hart said. “They had rows of medicine.”

Bountiful medicine seemed only just the beginning.

Being in the Knicks’ locker room might not impress too many people these days — its regular denizens are scuffling through another forgettable season.

But the room still has a seductive quality at the Big East tournament, where the top-seeded team in each session is rewarded with the opportunity to dress in the cavernous, wood-paneled private quarters that players like Carmelo Anthony call home.

On Wednesday night, that privilege went to seventh-seeded Marquette, and many of the young Golden Eagles had never set foot in Madison Square Garden. They promptly took out their phones and snapped photos of the locker room.

“They were wide-eyed,” Marquette Coach Steve Wojciechowski said, adding that he had to remind them that “there’s a game to play here, fellas.”

Anthony may or may not want to remain suited up in Knicks gear in the future. But his locker room can still inspire some people. The Golden Eagles freshman forward Henry Ellenson, an unabashed, lifelong Anthony fan, found his jersey hanging in Anthony’s locker and wound up scoring a team-high 27 points in a win over St. John’s, which had to use the visiting locker room in an arena where it sometimes plays home games.

“That gives me a big smile,” Ellenson said of his particular locker placement. “The people taking pictures — that was me.”

The Knicks are more magnanimous with their space than others, like the Nets, who generally keep their locker room restricted from teams visiting Barclays Center for the Atlantic 10 tournament. Not that the visiting rooms are too shabby. But there is an undeniable difference about the home team’s main room, with its rounded design, spoked ceiling and spacious lockers.

“This is definitely more comfortable, I will say that,” Hart said, sitting back and stretching his legs in front of his locker — or, rather, Knicks guard Jose Calderon’s locker — after Villanova’s 81-67 win over the Hoyas.

Villanova, the top seed in the Big East tournament for a third consecutive year, is no stranger to the Knicks’ plush locker room, which is kept separate from the visiting rooms in the southeastern part of the arena, down a winding hallway and shielded by multiple layers of security guards.

The Knicks’ locker nameplates had been stripped away before the Wildcats’ arrival, and the center of the carpeted floor was strewn with fold-up chairs and sweaty jerseys that partly concealed the Knicks’ blue-and-orange logo, perhaps helping the Villanova players feel a bit more at home. After all, they will retain the locker room Friday night, when they play fourth-seeded Providence, which beat Butler, 74-60, in another Thursday quarterfinal.

“It’s a beautiful facility,” Hart said with a smile.

Coach Jay Wright said he did not have to worry too much about his players being distracted by the surroundings. But he said the exhilaration of playing in the Garden was something he monitored.

“I still think some of them get a little excited about playing here,” Wright said. “I do. I get fired up.”

Jalen Brunson, a Villanova freshman guard whose father, Rick, played for the Knicks from 1998 to 2000, seemed to be one of the players who had a different edge walking out of the locker room Thursday. He scored 5 of his 9 points in the opening eight minutes.

“It’s a surreal feeling,” Brunson said. “It’s the world’s most famous arena.”

Hart said he tended to be hyperfocused before games, to the point where he barely notices the locker room surroundings. Clearly, Marquette, with seven freshmen on its roster, was a bit more star-struck. But Villanova had trouble hiding its excitement, too.

“I think a couple of people were looking for Kristaps’s locker,” guard Ryan Arcidiacono said, referring to the Knicks’ towering rookie, Kristaps Porzingis. “He’s the sensation.”

A version of this article appears in print on , Section B, Page 13 of the New York edition with the headline: At Garden, Top Big East Seeds Try Out Knicks’ Quarters. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe